Due to the increasing complexity of electronic components, it is desirable to fit more components in less space on a circuit board or other substrate. Consequently, the spacing between electrical terminals within connectors has been reduced, while the number of electrical terminals housed in the connectors has increased, thereby increasing the need in the electrical arts for electrical connectors that are capable of handling higher and higher speeds and to do so with greater and greater pin densities. It is desirable for such connectors to have not only reasonably constant impedance levels, but also acceptable levels of impedance and cross-talk, as well as other acceptable electrical and mechanical characteristics.
Previous attempts to design such high speed electrical connectors have focused on the mating ends of the electrical terminals in the connector to achieve desired levels of impedance and cross-talk, pin densities, and other desired electrical and mechanical characteristics, but these attempts have largely ignored the mounting ends of the electrical terminals within the connector. For example, previous attempts to reduce the cross-talk within a connector and obtain desired impedance levels involved the use of edge coupling or edge-to-edge positioning of the mating ends of the electrical terminals within a connector, without any suggestion that modifying the mounting ends of the electrical terminals would have any desirable mechanical or electrical effects within the connector. In contrast, various embodiments of the present invention focus on the mounting ends of the electrical terminals within a connector, which, surprisingly, can be configured to achieve the desired electrical performance of a high speed, high density electrical connector, while maintaining the physical characteristics necessary to readily insert the connector into a panel member aperture without damage to the terminals of the connector or the panel member apertures.